3724 N Clark Street (Map)
Chicago, IL 60613
(224) 307-4820
CPC invaded El Pres and Kate's back deck to eat pizza from Professor Pizza while socially distancing most of the time on Saturday, November 7, 2020.
For the first time since the Chain Pizza Extravaganza back in 2008, the members of the Chicago Pizza Club gathered for delivery pizza. We did so because 1) pickup at the right time was impossible for some logistical reasons and 2) we trusted that a guy who calls himself Professor Pizza wouldn't let delivery screw with quality too much. I won't bury the lede: this pizza was fantastic and the Professor has a flawless system in place.
Each week, pies are available for preorder for Friday and Saturday only. That's it. If you want pizza from the Professor on any other day, you're out of luck. Or you can go to Dough Bros, which he ran for a couple of years. Note: Haven't been in ages; no idea if it's still good. He's also done stints at Coalfire, and Chicago's location of Paulie Gee's. Anyhow, when ordering ahead from Professor Pizza, you have your choice of three grandma style pies that don't seem to change: pepperoni, sausage, and cheese. And each week, he has a pizza listed as "Extra Credit," which can be any number of styles or toppings combinations.
The pepperoni pizza is fantastic. A massive supply of quality pepperoni along with some decorative splotches of ricotta and some Mike's Hot Honey on the side, this thing is loaded with a flavorful kick.
Of course, for anyone who spends as much time thinking about pizza as the Professor, the crust is going to be where he wants you to focus. And for good reason, it's exceptional. Clearly fermented for a while and cooked with a nice dose of some kind of fat (probably olive oil), this bread has a whole lot of chew (but not too much) and a nice crunch on the exterior. Would happily eat the crust with nothing on top.
The sausage pizza is even more straightforward (old school toppings done right) than the pepperoni one (no newfangled hot honey here) and every bit as satisfying. The sausage was really well seasoned and, as was the case with the pepperoni, the sauce and cheese were both really good.
As mentioned above, while the grandma pizzas don't change from week to week, the Extra Credit pies do. Sometimes they're a bit wacky (there was a Detroit style Monte Cristo pizza, complete with cinnamon, sugar and maple syrup) and sometimes they're pretty straightforward. We were definitely on the straightforward side with this 20-inch four cheese New Jersey bar pizza. The extra thin and crispy crust was topped with Grande aged mozzarella, Fontina béchamel, tallegio, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Along with the olive oil, this was one rich and very good pizza. I didn't think it was on par with the grandma slices but they had the unfair advantage of sauce and meat.
Attendance was low at this Pizza Club meeting, but with the return of Stander after years away, we were a mighty crowd. There was not much pizza left at the end of the meal.
For the third time this year, we enjoyed some Hoosier Mama pie with our pizza. This time, thanks to some late season raspberries and particularly exceptional crust even by their standards, we got an all time great dessert. We talked about going back for one more pie. We didn't do it. That was a mistake.
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